Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: touch, feel, sense of touch, tactile sense, tactility, contact, using one's hands, sensation, sense, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, notion, inkling, hunch, fancy, apprehension, presentiment, premonition, foreboding, love, care, affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, warmness, emotion, sentiment, emotional state, compassion, sympathy, empathy, fellow feeling, understanding, concern, solicitude, solicitousness, tender-heartedness, brotherly love, sensibilities, sensitivities, self-esteem, ego, pride, opinion, belief, view, impression, intuition, instinct, estimation, guess, theory, hypothesis, thought, way of thinking, point of view, atmosphere, ambience, aura, air, mood, climate, character, overtone, undertone, tenor, spirit, quality, flavour, colour, aptitude, knack, flair, bent, talent, gift, skill, art, trick, faculty, ability, propensity, inclination, sensitive, warm, warm-hearted, tender, tender-hearted, caring, soft-hearted, sympathetic, compassionate, empathetic, responsive, receptive, intuitive, thoughtful

Antonyms: bad feeling, acrimony, animosity, animus, antagonism, antipathy, aversion, bitterness, detestation, disgust, dislike, disrelish, enmity, friction, grievances, grudges, hatred, hostility, loathing, malevolence, malice

Showing 3826 to 3850 of 4770 results

3826. Jesus’s Entry as the Messiah Who Triumphs through Suffering

Mark 11:1-11

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Grant R. Osborne

... cross will be his throne, and in his death he will indeed become king of the Jews. The people will be delivered in a far more significant way, for out of this will come not political victory but eternal life. Illustrating the Text Jesus in control History: Some people view Jesus as a victim of the events leading to his death on a cross in the same way they see Abraham Lincoln as a victim of John Wilkes Booth. But was Jesus really a helpless victim? No. It is important to realize that Jesus was in control of ...

3827. Jesus Interprets the Passover Seder of Himself

Mark 14:12-26

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Grant R. Osborne

... for God and us. Throughout the events of this last week of Jesus’s life we see both the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and Jesus’s control over the events (as evidenced by the procurement of the room in Mark 14:13–14). Sadly, many people’s view of God is that he is not in control. Albert Mohler tells of a survey done in Great Britain in which people were asked about their belief in God. One of the questions asked, “Do you believe in a God who intervenes in human history, who changes the ...

3828. Peter Denies Jesus

Mark 14:66-72

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Grant R. Osborne

... 18:15 and the Elijianic messianic forerunner of Malachi 3:1; 4:5–6. In Mark 14:72 we see a further aspect of Jesus’s prophetic work: his ability to foretell the future with detail. In fact, this episode is often used to discount the view of “open theism” that God (and Jesus) restrict their knowledge of future events to allow total human freedom to make decisions. Jesus knows and foretells not only Peter’s denials but also that there will be three denials, and that they will take place before the ...

3829. On the Cross Jesus Is Mocked and Dies

Mark 15:33-41

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Grant R. Osborne

... from him. 15:35 he’s calling Elijah. When bystanders hear “Eloi/Eli,” it sounds sufficiently like the Hebrew for “Elijah” (’elia) to make them think that Jesus is calling out to the prophet Elijah, taken to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1–12) and viewed as a messianic figure who would return when needed (Mal. 4:5). So they believe that Jesus is calling for Elijah to come and rescue him. 15:36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to ...

3830. Mary’s Song—the Magnificat

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

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R.T. France

... is to be congratulated not on good fortune, but on her own faith, which has been willing to take God at his word even when what is promised seems incredible. 1:47 God my Savior. This is a familiar Old Testament phrase (e.g., Hab. 3:18). In view of the exaggerated place that has been given to Mary in some Christian traditions, even describing her as “co-redeemer” with her son, it is salutary to notice that in this song she appears only as the grateful recipient of God’s saving work. She is a model ...

3831. John the Baptist

Luke 3:1-20

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R.T. France

... would be good to challenge listeners to think out from this passage why Jesus rated John’s importance so highly (7:24–28). What new notes did John’s ministry introduce that had not been heard before in Judaism? How fair is the common Christian view of John as simply a “warm-up act” before the real hero comes on the scene? John is in important ways a model for the Christian teacher/preacher. Note, for example, his unwillingness to curry favor (“You brood of vipers”), his challenge to entrenched ...

3832. The First Disciples

Luke 5:1-11

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R.T. France

... by 2.35 meters wide, and it may well be similar to those used by Simon and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee. Jewish rabbis typically had disciples who traveled around with them, looking after their material needs and absorbing their teaching, with a view to later becoming rabbis themselves. But rabbinic disciples normally chose their own teacher. Jesus, for all his growing reputation as a teacher, was not an officially recognized rabbi. His initiative and authority in calling his own disciples mark him out as ...

3833. Feasting and Fasting

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 5:27-32

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R.T. France

... followers continuing long after his death. See 7:18–19; 11:1; John 4:1–2; Acts 18:25; 19:3. often fast and pray. Our knowledge of the ascetic discipline of the “Baptist” movement comes only from this text, though 7:33 attests the popular view of John as an ascetic. Pharisaic groups fasted for two days each week (18:12; Did. 8:1). A religious movement that did not impose such a discipline was easily dismissed as frivolous (compare the popular estimate of Jesus in 7:34). 5:35 the bridegroom will ...

3834. The Good Life

Luke 6:17-26

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R.T. France

... that this has been the consistent experience of those who have stood for God in a rebellious world, “the prophets.” The Old Testament is full of examples, of whom Jeremiah is perhaps the most memorable: his was not a happy life from the worldly point of view, but he fulfilled his divine commission and, we may assume, has received his ultimate reward. 6:24–26 But woe to you. The four woes in 6:24–26 set out the obverse of the four beatitudes. In all these respects, what appears on the surface to ...

3835. “Love Your Enemies”

Luke 6:27-38

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R.T. France

... weakness. There is no place for arrogant superiority. 6:37 Do not judge . . . Do not condemn . . . Forgive. The reference is to personal relationships, not to the judicial function of a court of law. What Jesus prohibits is taking a hard, critical, dismissive view of other people’s failures rather than offering understanding and compassion. This does not mean that we are never called to take a stand against wrong, or to warn others of ethical and spiritual danger; it is the attitude that is at issue ...

3836. True and False Discipleship

Luke 6:46-49, Luke 6:43-45, Luke 6:37-42

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R.T. France

... . A different image—treasure brought out from a storehouse—develops the same idea. What is true of behavior (6:43–44) is equally true of speech. What one says reveals the real person inside. Again the whole of a person’s “speech style” is in view. Anyone, perhaps having a bad day, can speak out of character. It is also sadly possible to deliberately conceal one’s true character by the way one speaks, so that the test of “fruit” (6:44) may be needed to unmask a deliberately false profession ...

3837. Power over Illness and Death

Luke 7:11-17, Luke 7:1-10

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R.T. France

... another sense they fall short (claiming Jesus is merely a prophet). You might discuss this as part of Luke’s narrative strategy. Notice that in the resurrection account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13–35), these two followers have an inadequate view of Jesus as merely a great prophet (24:19). Jesus corrects them to show that the Messiah (not merely a prophet) had to suffer in order to accomplish our salvation. 3. Life and death. This passage also provides a good opportunity to discuss with ...

3838. Hearing and Responding

Luke 8:19-21, Luke 8:16-18, Luke 8:1-15

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R.T. France

... lived the truth to his family. The father is a buffoon who pays little attention to his sons. The oldest son, Dimitri, is a sensualist much like his father but also is very close to his brother Alyosha. The second son, Ivan, is a profound thinker whose view of God’s lack of intervention for suffering children has made him agnostic. A great deal of material is available online and in libraries about this work, considered one of the greatest novels of all time. In order to be part of Christ’s true family ...

3839. An Encounter across the Lake

Luke 8:26-39, Luke 8:22-25

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R.T. France

... overwhelm a shallow-drafted fishing boat. 8:24 rebuked the wind and the raging waters. The graphically personal term “rebuke” (epitima?), which is used also of Jesus’s commands to demons (4:35, 41; 9:42), has led some to suggest that the storm is viewed as demonic. But the same verb is used of a fever (4:39). It is the narrator’s vivid way of portraying Jesus’s authority over inanimate forces. 8:25 Where is your faith? In Luke’s Gospel “faith” is usually linked with miraculous power ...

3840. “Who Is This?”

Luke 9:10-17, Luke 9:1-9

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R.T. France

... “apostle,” referring to someone sent out (6:13–16; repeated here in 9:10). Now the nature of that “sending out” (9:2) becomes more explicit, and it will be further clarified as a second wave of emissaries is sent out in 10:1–12. In view of Luke’s massive emphasis on the unique authority and supernatural power of Jesus, it comes as a surprise to find his mission shared in this way with fallible disciples. He remains the source of that authority, of course, and sometimes they will fail in their ...

3841. Jesus’s Fallible Followers

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:46-50, Luke 9:37-45

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R.T. France

... 10:17), so this failure is surprising. In Matthew 17:20 it is attributed to a lack of faith on the disciples’ part, and in Mark 9:29 to a lack of prayer. Luke does not explain their failure, but this note warns against any automatic view of spiritual power. Even apostles can fail. 9:41 You unbelieving and perverse generation. Here we have an echo of Moses’s complaint in Deuteronomy 32:5, 20. It is not clear whether this is addressed specifically to the disciples, who had lacked the faith to perform ...

3842. Lessons on Devotion and Prayer

Luke 11:1-13, Luke 10:38-42

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R.T. France

... have argued that this is a prayer not for everyday sustenance, but for provision for the future (eschatological) “day of the Lord.” But Luke’s very precise phrase “each day” and the tense of the verb, which implies “keep on giving,” make that view unlikely. The believer here recognizes that daily survival depends on God’s gracious provision. We live, under his care, one day at a time (cf. the provision of manna in Exod. 16:4). 11:4 Forgive us . . . for we also forgive. Physical need is ...

3843. Negative Responses to Jesus

Luke 11:33-36, Luke 11:29-32, Luke 11:14-28

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R.T. France

... . 4:1–9; 1 Kings 18:36–39; Isa. 7:10–14; 38:7–8), though such signs alone are no guarantee (see Deut. 13:1–3). Such “signs” continued to be claimed by “prophets” in Jesus’s day (see, e.g., Josephus, Ant. 20.97, 168, 170). But in view of all the miracles already recorded in Luke’s Gospel, it is not obvious what more they wanted (as Jesus will point out in 12:54–56), and the demand looks more like an excuse for not responding to Jesus’s message. Hence he describes them as a “wicked ...

3844. The Failure of Israel’s Leadership

Luke 11:37-54

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R.T. France

... addressed here, see the sidebar “Scribes and Pharisees” at 5:12–26. Here we find the term “lawyers” (NIV: “experts in the law”) rather than “scribes” (NIV: “teachers of the law”), but the reappearance of “scribes” in 11:53 strengthens the view (see on 10:25) that the two terms may be virtually synonymous, especially when “lawyers” are combined, here and in 7:30, with “Pharisees.” The invitation to eat in a Pharisee’s house is paralleled in 7:36 (see notes there) and ...

3845. “Unless You Repent . . .”

Luke 13:10-17, Luke 13:1-9

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R.T. France

... to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jesus dismisses the common tendency in such circumstances to ask “Why them?” and to assume some hidden reason why they were “selected.” Instead, he takes this too as a symbol of spiritual destruction. In view of human sinfulness, the surprising thing is not that this particular group suffered but that the rest of us have not yet faced judgment. 13:6–9 Then he told this parable. The word “repent” is not used in this parable, but the image of ...

3846. Ready for the Kingdom of God?

Luke 13:31-35, Luke 13:22-30, Luke 13:18-21

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R.T. France

... Jesus’s repeated visits to the capital and documents the resistance that the Jerusalem establishment has put up against his mission. 13:35 your house is left to you desolate.[1] This could be simply a metaphor for coming judgment on the city, but in view of Jesus’s specific prophecy in 21:6 (which in Matt. 24:2 follows on the heels of the present saying), it is more likely that the “house” referred to here is the temple (strikingly described as “your house” rather than God’s). There is ...

3847. Affluence and the Afterlife

Luke 16:19-31

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R.T. France

... In Hades, where he was in torment. On Hades, see “Historical and Cultural Background” above. The “torment,” by fire (16:24), fits the normal understanding of hell (geenna) rather than that of Hades; the two ideas seem to be merged here. (An alternative view, that both men are in Hades, which is envisaged as divided into zones of bliss and of torment, reads less naturally here: Hades is specifically “this place of torment” [16:28], where the rich man now finds himself.) Compare 13:28 for the ...

3848. Lessons in Discipleship

Luke 17:11-19, Luke 17:1-10

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R.T. France

... it is probable that the thought throughout is of personal offense rather than a more objective awareness that a fellow disciple has gone astray. The “rebuke” is in context not a self-righteous condemnation but rather a realistic pointing out of the offense with a view to reconciliation. Once the rebuke has been effective in producing repentance, forgiveness is not an option but a duty. 17:4 seven times in a day. The partial parallel in Matthew 18:21–22 makes it clear that this is not meant to be a ...

3849. The Coming of the Kingdom of God

Luke 17:20-37

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R.T. France

... Man” at 5:12–26. The concept here of “the days of the Son of Man” or “the day when the Son of Man will be revealed” probably derives from Daniel’s vision of the enthronement of the “one like a son of man” in Daniel 7:13–14. In view of Jesus’s persistent use of “the Son of Man” as a self-designation, it cannot now refer to a figure other than himself (and 17:25 here confirms this), but the expectation of an eschatological revelation of Jesus himself as Son of Man is (apart from one ...

3850. Two Parables about Prayer

Luke 18:9-14, Luke 18:1-8

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R.T. France

... of the Old Testament law, but to be a Pharisee was to be committed to a much more rigorous ritual code. 18:13 God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The description of the tax collector’s attitude conveys a sense of personal unworthiness, which, in view of Jesus’s comment in 18:14, we should probably take to include not merely low self-esteem but active repentance (as with the real-life tax collector in 19:1–10). “Have mercy on” is more literally “be propitiated toward”; he is seeking a new ...

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